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libraryjen 's review for:
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces
by Isabel Quintero
I finished this book not having any real clue how I want to rate it. Straight up honesty - I enjoyed reading it the whole way through. Also straight up honesty - I thin the author really missed the mark on several things.
I really liked Gabi herself. Her voice is fresh and fun and feels authentic. She asks herself a lot of the questions that I had when I was a teen, but she won't ask her parents (I didn't either). These questions range from anything to do with sex, to religion, to eating disorders, to calling out her parents on their own hypocrisy. She struggles with a screwed up relationship with food, a meth-addict dad, an over-stressed hormonal mother, a screwed up (thanks mom & dad) younger brother, and crazy extended relatives. Add to that boy troubles, a pregnant best friend, a just-came-out gay other best friend, school, college applications, and bullying.
This book was quick and easy to read, written in diary format with an illustrated zine randomly in the middle. (Don't worry, it fits in the story). In some ways this was great because we really got to know Gabi herself. In other ways it was tough because some of the relationships felt funky because we never got any real dialogue. Some of the characters who felt like they should have been major characters (her best friend, her boyfriend, her dad) felt more like caricatures.
I think what it comes down to is that the author tried to deal with too many issues in one fairly short book (despite how realistic it might be that one teen deals with that many issues at once). As a result, none of the issues felt adequately dealt with - they were all mostly glossed over. I wish the author had just focused on one or two of them, I feel like she has the skills to do them justice in a more in-depth manner if given the chance of less issues or a longer book. All the things in my trigger warning list below list are dealt with at some point in this 284 page novel. Yeah, I agree, that's way too many to do any of them justice.
TW: eating disorders, slut-shaming, rape, suicide, drug use, homophobia, teen sexuality, family dysfunction, abortion, and racism.
I would recommend this book to readers 14+. It was a short, fun read; just don't expect in-depth treatment of anything. 3 stars.
I really liked Gabi herself. Her voice is fresh and fun and feels authentic. She asks herself a lot of the questions that I had when I was a teen, but she won't ask her parents (I didn't either). These questions range from anything to do with sex, to religion, to eating disorders, to calling out her parents on their own hypocrisy. She struggles with a screwed up relationship with food, a meth-addict dad, an over-stressed hormonal mother, a screwed up (thanks mom & dad) younger brother, and crazy extended relatives. Add to that boy troubles, a pregnant best friend, a just-came-out gay other best friend, school, college applications, and bullying.
This book was quick and easy to read, written in diary format with an illustrated zine randomly in the middle. (Don't worry, it fits in the story). In some ways this was great because we really got to know Gabi herself. In other ways it was tough because some of the relationships felt funky because we never got any real dialogue. Some of the characters who felt like they should have been major characters (her best friend, her boyfriend, her dad) felt more like caricatures.
I think what it comes down to is that the author tried to deal with too many issues in one fairly short book (despite how realistic it might be that one teen deals with that many issues at once). As a result, none of the issues felt adequately dealt with - they were all mostly glossed over. I wish the author had just focused on one or two of them, I feel like she has the skills to do them justice in a more in-depth manner if given the chance of less issues or a longer book. All the things in my trigger warning list below list are dealt with at some point in this 284 page novel. Yeah, I agree, that's way too many to do any of them justice.
TW: eating disorders, slut-shaming, rape, suicide, drug use, homophobia, teen sexuality, family dysfunction, abortion, and racism.
I would recommend this book to readers 14+. It was a short, fun read; just don't expect in-depth treatment of anything. 3 stars.